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How Does Golding Present The Conch In Lord Of The Flies

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William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is an influential novel which reveals the darkness of mankind and evil inside of all humans. Lord of the Flies is set in the early 20th century, during a time when Europe is under attack and surrounded by war. For this reason, a plane carrying a group of British schoolboys is flown away from the chaos in hopes of bringing the boys to safety. Suddenly, the airliner is mistaken for a military aircraft and taken down. After all of the pandemonium the boys soon realize that they are the only survivors. Now stranded on an unknown island, the boys must govern themselves. Soon the burning desire for power overthrows their civilized approach of leadership as a deciding factor tears the boys apart. Golding effectively uses the symbolism of the conch, the beast, and painted faces to reinforce the theme of how difficult situations reveal the demons inside of everyone. Together these symbols are applied in order to lead the reader to the suspenseful end. Golding successfully presents the conch shell as a symbol of power as the boys strive to be rescued. During the exposition of the novel Ralph and Piggy discover the conch and soon begin to understand its role on the island. Ralph shouts, “We can use this to call others. Have a meeting,[...]” (Golding 16). The conch is used to assemble the boys and make things civilized. Likewise, the conch is used to allow one person to speak at a time. The older boys are …show more content…

William Golding 's novel, Lord of the Flies integrates symbolism through the conch, the beast, and the boys painted faces. By using symbolism the author develops the plot of the novel while allowing the reader to interpret each perspective of the symbols. These allegories work together in a way that expresses the theme; rigorous situations unveil the inner beasts of all people. While difficult situations are still present in modern society, they may not result in the same outcome as previous instances but they are equally

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174 Words | 1 Pages

In Lord of The Flies by William Golding, a group of English boys find themselves stranded on an island when their plane crashes. boy named Ralph finds a conch and uses it to call all of the other boys. Without any adults they establish their own government and elect Ralph as their chief. While writing Lord of The Flies, William Golding uses symbols to illustrate a deeper meaning in things like the conch, the fire, and the beast.    

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864 Words | 4 Pages

Once the book begins, Piggy quickly meets Ralph, the oldest boy on the island, and starts to collaborate with him. While in the lagoon, Piggy points out a stone shaped object that turns out to be the conch that would bring everyone together; however, Ralph does not know how to use it in an effective way. He needs Piggy’s help to show him how to blow the shell in a sonorous way to attract the attention of the group. This theme of Ralph listening to the ideas and advice of Piggy can relate to Ralph’s use of the conch shell to unify and gather the people. Later in the story, we can see how these two symbols can be intertwined in nature.

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824 Words | 4 Pages

Golding describes how Ralph is using the conch as a social tool to call a meeting, he planned to blow it to get their attention but instead held it up. When he held it up, it grabbed their eyes and everyone knew what was going down, Ralph used the conch as an item to call the meeting, therefore showing that the shell held the authority and power to call

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1951 Words | 8 Pages

The conch shell plays a big part in Ralph’s authority and order. His leadership skills, along with the conch by his side, is what made the other kids on the island listen and idolize him. Golding glorifies the power of Ralph and his conch shell in order to represent control, which is important to the ongoing order and regulation of the boys throughout their time on the island. Without the shell, there would be no order among the lives of the boys on the uninhabited island. In addition to Ralph promoting the power of the conch, Jack also agrees and emphasizes that in order to run a society, there must be a strong and rational set of rules that needs to be followed.

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493 Words | 2 Pages

While at the first assembly Ralph decides that it would be too chaotic for everyone to talk at once, so he helps create the “rule of the conch.” “‘And another thing. We can’t have everybody talking at once. We’ll have to have ‘Hands up’ like at school.’

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1193 Words | 5 Pages

Ralph notices the discord but resolves it by enforcing, “I 'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he 's speaking” (Golding 33). The conch represents the discipline of the boys and their civilization. Since Ralph thought to use the conch as a speaking system, the conch represents his leadership and authority over the boys. It also represents his authority because he is the only boy that does not need the conch to speak.

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1119 Words | 5 Pages

In the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, the conch is a primary symbol, which represents civility and order. Throughout the book it served as a power tool that the boys highly respected, in fact, the symbolism of the conch begins before it is even blown. Ralph is the one who originally discovers and posses the shell, but it’s Piggy who explains it’s significance. Piggy has to teach Ralph how to blow it; this shows how from the beginning the conch is linked with both Piggy and Ralph.

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999 Words | 4 Pages

The boys establish a rule of only being able to speak at meetings when in possession of the conch shell, also the person holding the shell actually gets listened to. Obviously people listen to their leaders, but people listen to Piggy here, someone who is not very popular

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2042 Words | 9 Pages

Lord of the Flies dates back to 1954 when a famous novelist, William Golding decided to write a book which could show an unusual version of the human beings. Born into an environment where his mother was a suffragette and later experiencing World War II where human ruthlessness was at its peak, made him better inclined in to writing a piece where he could explain his readers how human beings react in different situations. The setting of the novel depicts a situation where the human behavior is rational. The novel hence persuades the readers to realize the importance of ethics and civilization and how their absence can disrupt the society .Furthermore, the novel shows a negative aspect of the mankind and explains the reason it develops savagery

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793 Words | 4 Pages

All of the boys had contrasting ideas on how to administer the society. Ralph was eventually nominated by the other boys to be the chief of the society, and this was one of the first signs of what we, the readers, thought was a civilized society. Piggy and Ralph were the ones who spotted the conch and automatically thought that they could use it to call the meeting whenever they wanted to discuss something. But the conch was also a symbol of freedom of speech, whenever someone had it, they had the possibility and freedom to speak. In general the conch represented order.

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827 Words | 4 Pages

The Lord of the Flies novel, by William Golding, is a symbolic allegory, delving deep into the true horrors of war, savagery, and the loss of innocence throughout the duration of time the children spent on the island. I the novel a situation arises involving a dead parachutist, still he represents so much more than Mr. Golding makes apparent. Commonly applied to the story is the ideology of a “beast,” the concept behind these two aspects are similar, yet have a distinct separation between them. Just like the notion of the “beast” and the dead parachutist is the “Lord of the Flies” himself, pertaining to reasons related to that of the other two major examples of symbolism. The dead parachutist is so much more than what you see, you must go deeper

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1051 Words | 5 Pages

Symbolism Throughout William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, there is symbolism strewn all throughout the book, including the cover, which it spilled onto as the book is so full to the brim of it. Lord of the Flies is a novel published in 1954, following a group of boys and their experiences while stuck on a deserted island with no adults present. Golding’s novel explores themes such as human nature and discovery of the thing itself, and the path to unlocking it while using various symbols as tools to do do. Symbolism is expressed and used to delve deep into topics in a very un-cliche way, the four main symbols being Piggy’s spectacles, the conch found on the beach the first day the boys are on the island, the face paint used to hunt, and the

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662 Words | 3 Pages

In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, there are many symbols that represent important ideas such as fear and hope. In the novel, a group of boys crash land on an abandoned island. On that island, there is an elusive beast that terrorizes the boys. A few doubt its existence, some of whom are Ralph, Piggy, and Simon. Even so, they all fear it.

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562 Words | 3 Pages

In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, he created this book about a group of proper british boys to show that even the most civilize of all can turn inhuman and go savage. Also being in the war helped Golding to see what people were capable of even if they were good at heart. The themes in Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, were influenced by his childhood, his experiences in the war, and his view of human nature. Golding’s early life influenced the theme in Lord of the Flies.

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438 Words | 2 Pages

“ Ralph grasped the idea and hit the shell with air from his diaphragm… A child had appeared among the palms, about a hundred yards along the beach.” (12-13) The conch is so powerful that it brings kids from far away. It overpowered Ralph’s voice and brought the kids together.

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